1950s

Holden: The General really has it all his own way in this decade. Landmark models including the FJ keep coming thick and fast and variants such as the station-wagon and panel-van also appear. And who could forget the Holden Ute which arrived in 1951 and remains the toast of tradies.

Ford: The Blue Oval had its back to the wall trying to sell British hand-me-downs such as the Zephyr and Prefect to a market that wanted a Holden in the first place. When the opposition has more than 50 per cent of the total market share (as Holden did in 1958) you know you've got problems.

Winner: Holden

1960s

Holden: Huge market share led Holden to corporate complacency in the '60s. Stylists got lazy and simply shrunk US designs to fit our roads. Big fins and dog-leg A-pillars might have worked on a US Chevy, but they looked daft here on the smaller Holden. Later HD model was no better. V8 engine options and Monaro coupe helped towards the end of the decade.

Ford: First local Ford was a disaster with front-ends collapsing from Burke to Birdsville. Quick engineering fixes saved the day and later '60s Falcons were more modern to look at and drive than GM competitors. XR GT of 1967 gave birth to the whole Falcon GT thing we still revere to this day.

Winner: Ford

1970s

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Holden: The decade of the Kingswood must rate as a high point for Holden. Nearly half a million HQs were built in three years and the Torana also came of age, eventually evolving into the Bathurst-winning cars that made Peter Brock famous. New pollution laws hurt performance, but RTS (radial tuned suspension) finally gave us a Holden that handled late in the day.

Ford: The XA Falcon of 1972 was the first Ford wholly designed and developed here. It showed. It was a big, tough car for a big, tough country and with sedan, wagon, ute, panel-van, coupe and long- wheelbase (Fairlane) variants, it underlined how well the local industry could adapt. Death of GT Falcon was a sour note.

Winner: Holden

1980s

Holden: Fuel crisis sent Holden running scared. Scared enough to abandon the Kingswood and give us the smaller Commodore, an adaptation of a European GM design. Plenty of re-engineering needed to make it live Down Under, but still buyers thought it too small. Gemini small car was conventional but popular. Peter Brock departs the Holden family under a cloud of weirdness.

Ford: Sticking to its big-country-big-car ethos, Ford gave us the XD, XE, and XF dynasty with their big, wide bodies and great rough-road ability. The taxi, police and other fleet markets responded favourably. The thoroughly modern Laser hatch arrived and suddenly, Ford was seriously in the small-car business. Falcon's V8 was dumped mid-decade with ramifications down the track.

Winner: Ford

1990s

Holden: After a decade of compact Commodores, Holden went back to a full-sized car as the '80s petered out. The first Commodore Ute and a Statesman with IRS underlined a new enthusiasm. The VT Commodore arrived in 1997 and took the market by storm. HSV began to gather momentum and Holden started to gather a performance image.

Ford: E-Series Falcons culminated in EL, which was a pretty sound effort (considering what was to come). XR6 models were fast and entertaining, but eight years without a V8 option had seen the enthusiasts look elsewhere. Ford's image was shot. Other 90s models like the Cougar, Corsair and Mondeo all flopped. Local Capri had disaster written all over it.

Winner: Holden

2000s

Holden: Kept flogging the performance horse by dropping the 5.7-litre into the Commodore. It worked; the petro-bogans loved it. HSV was caught up in the middle of a nasty spat over ownership, leaving Holden icon Mark Skaife on the outer. The HSV W427 arrived as Australia's most powerful road car ever, but sales were soft. But this decade will go down as the one that witnessed the demise of the locally-produced large car, with Commodore sales dropping. Small cars like Astra, Barina and Cruze take off as well as SUV Captiva.

Ford: The AU that launched in 1998 is a horror-child and wreaked havoc on the brand early in the decade. Ugly enough that private buyers didn't want it, but Ford also annoys fleets by refusing to haggle. Hasty updates improve things, but it isn't until BA and especially XR6 Turbo that things look up. Dealers struggle to sell the thoroughly worthy Focus, Fiesta and Mondeo. Fairlane unceremoniously killed off due to slow sales; Falcon sales were also falling off a cliff.

Winner: Holden

Verdict

Holden: Handed the performance market on a plate in the 80s when Ford diced the V8. And despite its own ups and down, it's perhaps this fact more than any other that gave Holden the impetus to emerge as the stronger player. When, in 100 years from now, people recall the early decades of the local motor industry, it will be the Holden badge they'll remember.

Ford: Giving the opposition a 12-year head-start in a parochial marketplace wasn't Ford Australia's only problem. Early cars were brittle and despite some good product over the years ? particularly the last decade - Ford's small cars have never received the sales they deserved.